Good Shepherd Health Care System is the new owner of the Columbia Professional Plaza at 1050 W. Elm Ave., Hermiston, near the hospital.

The building was purchased for $4.4 million and an adjacent parcel of 3.3 acres sold for $325,000, according to Umatilla County records and hospital officials. The hospital announced no immediate plans for either property.

Were always looking forward to future expansion and finding a proper home for our services, said Mark Ettesvold, Good Shepherd public relations director. If the opportunity comes up to buy a facility near Good Shepherd we like to take it.

The land and the building are listed separately on the tax rolls, resulting in two separate sales, said Ettesvold.

The two-story, 36,000-square-foot office building is home to 11 medical tenants with space for one more. All the tenants are under leases of varying durations, Ettesvold said. 

The building was managed for Columbia Professional Plaza III LLC by Norris and Stevens Inc., a Portland property management firm. 

They sold because of the timing in the market they had owned the building for a number of years and they felt this was the time to sell the property, said Dave Hamilton, Norris and Stevens commercial division vice president. 

Good Shepherd anticipates population growth in the area and is working to expand their services to prepare for increased need, Ettesvold said.

We want to make sure we have the capacity in place when we need to pull the trigger, if we need something new or need to increase something that already exists, he said. This was a long-term decision to make sure we have the infrastructure to be sufficient and increase needs for new and existing services.

Good Shepherd, a non-profit, 25-bed hospital, since 2006 has expanded and renovated several departments, including its diagnostic imaging, laboratory, nutrition services and emergency departments, according to the hospital website. In the same period, the hospital built the  Good Shepherd Medical Plaza, a separate building for physician and hospital program offices at the north end of the campus, the website states.